Obituary — Dr. R. N. Ruhidge. 527 



been so profusely found in Orange Eiver territories, namely, that in 

 the eastern ranges of the Stormberg, beyond Aliwal, the anthracitic 

 coal of the Karoo beds has been converted into plumbago by the 

 volcanic dykes. Hence it is possible that, by further change, purer 

 carbon has been elicited from the carbonaceous matter by volcanic or 

 metamorphic agency in the Natal ranges, and has been brought 

 down in the form of diamond by the rivers, together with their com- 

 mon agate gravel, derived from the same igneous and often amygda- 

 loidal rocks (see also his letter in the Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xii., 

 p. 237). 



In the same year (1854), at the instance of a Mining Company, 

 Dr. Eubidge went to Namaqualand, to report upon its metal pro- 

 ducing capabilities. The results are given by him in the Geological 

 Society's Journ., vol. xiii., a short notice only appearing in the pre- 

 vious volume. The gneissic and schistose rocks of this part of 

 Western Africa being quite new to him, and so full of interesting 

 mineralogical characters, afforded a rich field of observation ; and 

 he was particularly struck with the probable metamorphic origin of 

 some granite, and with the apparent silification of some bands of 

 schist, covered unconformably by sandstone, through which water 

 had carried silica to replace the original felspar and mica of the 

 gneissic bands below. This view of the metamorphic condition of 

 some quartzite Dr. Eubidge regarded as a key to the elucidation of 

 certain sections seen in different parts of South Africa, and con- 

 sidered by him to be of a very difficult nature, if left to be explained 

 according to the usual view of geologists. Thus in 1858 (Geol. Soc. 

 Journ., vol. xv., p. 196) he explained the section of Mitchell's Pass, 

 at the village of Ceres, otherwise than Mr. Bain had interpreted it ; 

 and regarded the great sandstone formation of Table Mountain as 

 occurring again and again in great patches of horizontal and uncom- 

 formable beds, over the highly inclined schists and gneiss, both of 

 the Cape and of Namaqualand, instead of dipping, at Ceres, down 

 below the Devonian rocks of the Bokkeveld ; and thus he made the 

 schistose rocks of Cape Town, of the Bokkeveld, George, and 

 southern Uitenhage (whence he got Devonian fossils) to be all of 

 the same date : certainly a great advance was gained in proving the 

 continuation of the Bokkeveld schists into the laet-named district ; 

 but whether the schists and slates of the Cape come into the same 

 category still requires careful inquiry. 



Examining the neighbourhood of the Zuerberg, in occasional 

 journeys, Dr. Eubidge endeavoured to throw light on the stratifica- 

 tion and structure of that country, shewing that the Lower Ecca beds 

 are probably of Devonian age. For the illustration of his views on 

 this matter he sent several series of rocks and fossils to the Geological 

 Society of London, and he communicated papers on the subject to 

 that Society, to the " Geologist," to the British Association, and 

 to the periodicals of Port Elizabeth. In 1861: he visited England 

 and travelled to the north with the special view of studying similar 

 schistose and quartzose rocks to those of the Zuerberg. He brought 

 with him many new fossils, of Secondary age, from the Uitenhage 



